My Happy Place
by FullMoonCat
Summary: Betsy helps a distraught Alice back to her cabin and settles her down after some very damaging words reach her. A short and sweet fanfic about feelings and the comfort of friends.


Shutters drawn, the curtains pulled over them. A smooth bebop-jazz record put on the speakers. A meandering piano saturated the room with its energetic warmth, while I guided Alice to the kitchen. She was having another one of her episodes. A sharp comment from Hedgehog had been all it had taken to send her spiraling down this time, and it was worse than I'd seen it in a while.

Every once in a while Alice couldn't really deal with being a witch. She felt unlike herself, and disliked the way that people looked at her. It'd be a rough few days with her, to help her through this. The woolly elephant witch blinked her tear-soaked eyes at me, reflecting my frazzled ponytail full of burs and grass. I had to be here for her right now.

I always locked up the magical medicine cabinet I kept in her cabin, only getting into it when needed. However now was one of those special occassions. With a flick of my wrist I parted the sea of bottles to find her favorite form of sedative, a potion of lethargy. A special blend of magical and nonmagical ingredients, it made sure to make the recipient tired mentally and physically.

I uncorked the massive bottle and poured her an undersized cup full of it. Her hands were already reaching for the finely cut glass, tears marking streaks down her cheeks. I gently finished pouring, ensuring she had a firm grip in her shaking hands as she sipped it down. I instinctually reached out and rubbed her back... hushing her softly.

With shivering gulps, I watched the mixture vanish. She then set it down. A loud sniff echoed off the walls. All the animated furniture in the room quietly sidled out of plain view, ensuring they weren't around for this. Sometimes Alice just needed space alone with her best friends. The elephant turned and hugged me, her hat falling off as she pushed her head into my chest. A muffled sob sounded, her chest clenching around the labored breath.

I could only imagine how she felt, with the way everyone looked at her. She was the strongest witch, the most honest of us by a lot, and easily the most passionate of anyone in camp. She tried hard, but a lot of what made her who she was got her in trouble. Most of what she tried ended up backfiring. Even with the best of intentions she played the part of a fool. Her temper, and her insecurity about who she was just made it all so much worse, too.

To the campers she was a dolt. Partially someone to be feared lest she turn them into toads, but also someone to be mocked. She wasn't smart, she had a short temper and was easily infuriated. She possessed nearly no planning skills. She was mostly a dim-witted firebrand with a wand to them, and Hedgehog had decided that she needed to know that today. In no uncertain terms, either.

All that she'd done had confirmed what Alice had always suspected, sending her crying to her cabin. Alice had just been trying to help and ended up animating a wooden doll that Lucy had been drawing. A glib comment from Lucy later Hedgehog threw her opinion in once she thought that Alice was out of earshot... causing all of this. Even after Alice asked if they really felt that way, Hedgehog had doubled down.

My free arm wrapped her, while the other set the glass aside on the counter. She'd done everything short of lick it clean. With slow footsteps I guided her to her bed, and she did her best to pull herself together. It only led to her crying in barely contained fits. I could hear her mumbling unintelligible, self-depracating and admittedly embarrassing things under her breath. Once I'd led her to bed I took out my wand and poofed her into a fresh, clean set of pajamas, and had her sit down.

With practiced and caring hands, I wrapped her up in her favorite blanket. After a few moments she quieted herself, the potion taking effect. It sedated her, and more importantly it kept her from overthinking what had happened. I sat down on the bed next to her, sidling behind her and wrapping my arms around the blanket-clad elephant.

For the first time since she'd run away, she spoke in full sentences to me.

"Betsy... why am I like this? I'm just... dumb. I don't want to make stupid choices anymore. I don't want them to think I'm some dumb elephant... who can't do anything right. Anything I make just feels like, they only think I'm even more dumb for it. They make fun of me, and think I'm scary because I'm stupid..."

With her vocabulary resembling that of about a third grader, I could really tell that the potion was working. I leaned my cheek against her back, making sure she felt my presence, before replying.

"Alice... you are the way you are, because of a lot of reasons. but I don't think that there is anything wrong with you. Even if you mess up every once in a while, it's just you expressing yourself. They just don't understand... and you're afraid of that. They don't get you. But you don't really get them either, because you're so old, and they don't understand why you do stuff. There's just a big divide between you and them."

Alice sucked in air deeply through her nose, turning her head to give me a sideways glance, her eyes swimming with confusion. I knew this was deep stuff to be dumping on her in such a mentally and physically compromised state... but maybe she would absorb it better if she was like this. I continued to explain.

"You decide to do stuff because you're impulsive, but maybe you do that because you don't think they'd understand or let you do what you want, either? Like they won't get you. So you don't tell them things, and so they don't understand... they just think you're dumb. That's wrong of them, but... well, they're just kids y'know? Just kids."

Tears welled up in her eyes, thinking about that with what limited processing ability she had at the moment. A hiccuping sob escaped her, and I squeezed her tight around her middle, comforting my crying friend. With a hush I reached up, running my left hand over her head. The sensation calmed her. I felt the tension dissolve from her shoulders and neck as I brushed my fingers through her hair, and for a moment, she was at peace. I could see the thoughtless, content expression on her face. Now was the perfect time to tell her to wind down and get some rest. With how hard she'd been crying on top of the potion, she was surely in no position to really be up much longer.

"You should sleep Alice. We'll talk more in a little bit, just you and me. I'll be here reading you wake up, reading a book. Okay?"

She nodded, her eyes drifting nearly shut. I could see them flutter a moment, the last fleeting bit of worry and sadness trying to keep her up, but more than her urge to pity herself... she wanted to be at peace. I stopped petting her, and helped lay her down on the bed. Her cheek met the pillow just as the first snore escaped her.

I slid out of her bed as fluidly as my limited dexterity would allow. I cast a mute spell on a chair and pulled it over to sit beside her, getting out one of my favorite books. It was titled: 'Me, Myself, and Other Confusing Notions'. The protagonist reminded me a lot of Alice, in the way they had trouble explaining and interacting with others. I plucked my bookmark out and began to read, keeping my ear peeled towards Alice, always watchful of her. Misguided, misinterpreted, incompetent and bad at math as she was... she was still precious, and still the best at the things she loved. Even if it meant that the campers would never understand her.


End file.
